http://www.BirdWatchingDaily.com 57Birds of the West: An Artist’s Guide, by Molly
Hashimoto, Mountaineers Books/Skipstone, hardcover,
2019, 176 pages, $22.95.Seattle-based artist
Molly Hashimoto
leads plein air
watercolor painting
and printmaking
workshops at
western art insti-
tutes, and her work
has been featured in
galleries around the
country. In this, her
latest book, she
showcases more than
120 paintings of
nearly 100 bird species of the West using different
media — from quick sketches with pen and ink to
carefully planned and vivid block prints. Sprinkled
throughout the book are notes about her techniques
on certain paintings, such as a detailed study of a
Golden Eagle’s head and a rendition of a Great Blue
Heron’s movements.Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York
City, by P. A. Buckley, Walter Sedwitz, William J. Norse,
and John Kieran, Cornell University Press, 2018,
hardcover, 536 pages, $75.
New York City is arguably more important to
American bird study than any other large metro
area. It’s the home of the
National Audubon Society
and the Linnaean Society, to
name a few important groups.
The last book about the city’s
birdlife, however, is more
than 50 years old, so we’re
thrilled with this new tome. It
provides an historical
analysis of the region’s birds
from 1872 to 2016, describing
301 species plus 70 potential
additions.
Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck
Jay, by Julie Zickefoose, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
hardcover, 2019, 272 pages, $25.
In Julie Zickefoose’s
latest book, the artist
and wildlife rehabilita-
tor tells the story of
Jemima, a young Blue
Jay that came into her
care. She fed it, raised
it, released it, and
nursed it back to health
after a brush with a
deadly disease.
Considering the
neighborhood
Sharp-shinned Hawk,
Zickefoose writes, “I
can only describe the process of raising a bird for
release as a prolonged lesson in letting go.” Zicke-
foose shares other lessons she learned from the
experience, including that subtle markings around
the face and throat can distinguish individual jays. A
fascinating, honest, and heartfelt read.
Losing Earth: A Recent History, by Nathaniel Rich,
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,
hardcover, 2019, hardcover, $25.In August 2018, The New
Yo rk Ti m e s Ma g a z i n e devoted
an entire issue to one article:
Nathaniel Rich’s “Losing
Earth: The Decade We
Almost Stopped Climate
Change,” which focused on
efforts to warn humanity
about global warming in the
1980s. This book delves into
more of the history and
brings us up to the present.
Featuring prescient scientists, underdog activists,
and the consistent suppression by politicians of a
truth that could not be more crucial to everyone,
Losing Earth is a sad, infuriating tale.